an undeclared trip, but very secure

by time news

After Moldova and Romania, direction Ukraine for Emmanuel Macron. Despite the noise and media speculation, the president’s visit to the country was never officially announced. Accompanied by Italian heads of state Mario Draghi and German Olaf Scholz, he boarded a train on Wednesday June 15, around 11 p.m. The trip may surprise, it was clearly prepared, in a millimetric way, for security reasons.

Special envoys from several newsrooms accompanied the delegation and were able to tell the backstage of the trip. BFMTV explains that the train chartered by the Ukrainians was in a small Polish station near the Ukrainian border, in Rzeszów, in the middle of freight trains.

A contingency plan in case of the unexpected

Arrived one after the other, each of the Heads of State had three cars. His own, that of his advisers and that of the journalists, themselves integrated into the various security arrangements. The latter were each searched on their arrival, presented their luggage to dogs who had come from Paris to detect possible explosives. All were finally briefed on the actions to be taken in the event of an unforeseen event, such as artillery fire.

An operation whose preparations are extremely sharp. “In this kind of trip, nothing is left to chance, explains General Dominique Trinquand, former head of the military mission to the United Nations. We foresee all the possible scenarios: the train breaks down, the rails are unbolted, the cars arriving are not the right ones, at the last moment the destination is bombed, etc. »

Especially since the nature of the terrain is not insignificant. “In a war zone, a lot can happen, continues the general. There may be the action of an isolated individual, an unexpected bombardment because orders were not given in time (…). Everything must be millimetered, assuming that nothing resists the first shot. » A second train was even chartered to be able to turn around in the event of failure of the convoy transporting the heads of state.

Coordination permanente

Preparing for such a visit does not happen overnight. “We can think that the preparations took at least two weeks”, considers General Trinquard. On the French side, the trip involved many entities: “Presidential security, the GIGN, the air force for travel from Paris to Poland, via Romania and Moldova”, where Emmanuel Macron has been in recent days. “Not to mention the diplomatic work upstream and the liaison cells with the Germans, the Italians and the Ukrainians”, he adds.

“Without being able to say for sure, it is likely that an adviser to the Élysée Palace informed a Kremlin adviser of the careers of Emmanuel Macron, Mario Draghi and Olaf Scholzin Ukraine for the Russians to make arrangements, says a military source. There are lines you don’t cross, even in times of war. »

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